Social Work

The Bachelor's Degree in Social Work is focused on recognizing and mastering contemporary methods of helping people (individuals, families, communities), who cannot on their own solve difficulties in relationships with other people or organizations, e.g. with governmental offices or service providers, etc.

“We learn to help people who are facing difficulties in dealing with relationships in/with society.”

The graduate will be able to use social work methods in assisting people for whom it is difficult to maintain contact with their environment (e.g. people with addiction on computers), people for who is difficult to participate fully in society (e.g. people with disabilities), people who are considered a threat by society at large (e.g. inhabitants of marginalized localities), people who are threatened by others (e.g. seniors neglected by their relatives), people who are not insufficiently supported in society (e.g. those who are unable to cope with caring for their relatives) and the like.

The study program has the following aims: familiarization and mastery of the methods of assistance in of social work as well as its traditions and its philosophical backgrounds, as well as the organizational and legal framework, in which social workers perform their duties. It is important to give the students the knowledge and the skills to enable them to recognize and discuss the ethical questions related to assisting people with difficulties in relationships with other people or organizations.

Practical training

Part of the bachelor study is the completion of a compulsory professional social work internship. The aims of the student internship include: (a) enabling students to try out the methods they became acquainted with during their theoretical studies; (b) enabling students to confront their theoretical ideas about social work with its practical manifestation in the course of their study; (c) providing students with experiences regarding the social relationships and ways of working typical of aid organizations, and encouraging students to reflect on such experiences. (d) stimulating the process of identification of students with social work as a profession. The student must complete 416 hours of the internship and 78 hours of supervisory seminars. The actual performance of the internship begins in the third semester of study and is organized into three consecutive required subjects; students earn at least 13 ECTS for them. The Department of Social Policy and Social Work recommends internships at well-established workplaces. The department will provide supervision that focuses on the professional aspects of social work.

Further information

Specific conditions regarding completion of the study of social work may change. This may depend for example of applicant demand, the development of cooperative efforts with partners at foreign universities or on other developments regarding student internships due to the wide spectrum of organizations with whom we cooperate. Additional specifications of study conditions for social work can be found on the department's website at http://spsp.fss.muni.cz/.

Graduates may apply as independent social workers in organizations providing social work assistance, social security or social services, including employment services. They might apply to be developers and practitioners for social service programs, especially on the regional or local level. Graduates may also apply for roles as social workers, creator or participant of programs of assistance or social services in the governmental or non-governmental sector, possibly even in an international context. The study program qualifies graduates for carrying out the regulated profession of social work.

The study of social work at the SPSP MU department can be combined with the studying of other MU programs.

No information available

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Minimum score and numbers of accepted applicants in past years

Graduates of the bachelor program in social work may continue in a subsequent master's study of the same discipline at FSS MU or at another university. There are some schools, especially abroad, where the disciplines of social work and social pedagogy are understood to be closely related or even identical. Graduates can continue in the study of social pedagogy in this case. Graduates may also possibly, depending on conditions of acceptance of other related disciplines, continue in follow-up master's study of such related disciplines, e.g. social policy, public policy, management of social services, and the like.